


Spirals of Water

by Kitsune_Alchemist



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Gen, I may add character tags as I go... not everything is planned for this omg, Pokemon Fanfiction, Pokemon Ranger - Freeform, Trans Gladion headcanon, also ive tagged both the games and anime in this since im gonna be mixing elements from both of them, but everything happens post game so i mean, but... its not what generally youd think would happen, i want to also include the URS somehow. i love them.., it still follows elements from post game/anime, so thats why ill keep the tags on, somehow i will include him being trans. somehow. i will do it. i will be damned if i dont, this is sort of like an au..., trans boy gladion, transgender gladion, who knows... its not that different??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-09 06:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13475202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Alchemist/pseuds/Kitsune_Alchemist
Summary: Shortly after the events of Ultra Wormholes mysteriously opening up all throughout the islands of Alola and the sudden departure of Lusamine and her daughter, Lillie, the islands have settled down back to their calm, usual state. Of course, things can't stay quiet for that long. With the arrival of a new, mysterious person who goes by the name of Ara, things seem to take quite an odd turn.Ara seems benign at first, putting on water shows for the entertainment of the people, drawing in a young water-type trainer's attention quite quickly. That's not all the attention they have drawn, though. Ara has also captured the harsh gaze of Gladion, who's quick to doubt this new arrival. Questioning this arrival, Gladion winds up getting himself wound up into a much bigger ordeal than he had ever intended to.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> HURAH LETS START THIS FANFIC!!!!  
> AND SEE IF I ACTUALLY FINISH SOMETHING FOR ONCE  
> I HOPE I DO  
> I HAVE A LOT OF IDEAS FOR THIS

**Thursday - 1:14 AM - Mid Summer**

**...**

**. .**

A glaring shine cast out of the computer, eyes scanning the words and numbers that were displayed across it carefully from behind green glasses. The data being displayed, it was just what he had wanted to see. Everything was correct, fine, just as it had been planned.

Glancing up off the screen, Faba’s eyes fell upon a trio of slumbering beasts hooked up to many wires and other devices from behind a nearly unbreakable glass wall. Their bodies resembled some form of chimera, made up of creatures that one would have never thought may fit well together. A certain fur covered their heads and flowed downwards like a brilliant white mane, shining from the low blue glow of the lights of the cage they resided within. 

One of the beasts fidgeted slightly and opened one of its metallic eyes. It yawned, then settled back down once more, drifting back into the sleep it had been previously in. Faba grinned sharply, suddenly becoming enamoured with the success of this project. He stood up from the chair he sat in, walking closer to the glass to get a better look at his creations.

While he was away from his computer, Faba had not seen the error signals that began to pop up within the text that flashed across it… Or rather, not errors, but warning signs. Signs of the beasts slowly becoming more and more active, signs of their life certainly beginning to finally flare up. 

Within moments of multiple of the life signs changing, all three of the beasts heads simultaneously popped up, eyes taking a now-harsh glow. Before Faba could dare to react, dare to jump away, one of the beasts had jumped towards the glass with one of its claws outstretched. It broke away from every form of wire that connected to it, letting out a guttural cry of pain as it did.

* * *

 

  **One Year Later, 2:46 AM**

The harsh, quick pounding of drilling steps echoed throughout the once quiet halls of the darkened Aether Laboratories. With visibility limited, dashing through the maze of walls and rails was nearly impossible. Thankfully, constant visiting to a certain lab in that maze had taught the child, a desperate child, to be able to navigate them with little to no difficulty. Of course, even with navigational abilities, the loud scraping of claws, paired with the weight of the heavy creature that dashed alongside this child made secrecy difficult. The screaming alarm did not help either.

A pair of white-clad bodies turned onto the path that the child and creature were running on, causing the child to quickly skid into a stop and shift his path to conform to the open hall that curved away from the pathway of the two bodies. The creature did not turn as smoothly. Its claws screeched across the hard tiling of the floor and its body careened into the bodies that blocked the pathway, causing them to attempt to make for a lame flee, only to have that attempt to be in vain and for them to get hit. As one of the bodies got knocked over and the other certainly took no soft blow, the creature growled loudly from within the mask that was a prison to its own head. Now, in a quick shift, its claws scratched against the ground, chasing after, or rather, following after, the desperate child once again. 

The child had found himself running down another hall, disoriented. His oxygen was running low, there was no way he could keep up running for much longer. Upon hearing the sound of claws scratching against the tiles of the floor begin to grow louder over his own heartbeat, he cast a quick glance back to see large body nearing, its eyes glowing harshly. The child’s legs felt weak as he forced himself into a stop, to allow the creature to near him so they would not get separated; so the creature would not be able to get captured again. He straightened, murmuring under his breath, “We’re almost out of this place..” to the large mass as it approached. 

He began to hold out his hand, before suddenly dropping it, turning, and running again. There wasn’t any time at all to stop for conversation. They would get captured. He could only hope that the mere break would not cost them too deeply. Shifting his gaze up from the tiles of the floor as he sailed by, the child could see the exit, or rather, elevator out of the maze of labs. His pace sped up as the edges of his vision began to change shades, going dark. As he grew nearer and nearer, the creature still running at his side, he began to feel a crippling sense of dread. The cause of it…?

A figure stepped out from behind the shadows created by the glowing elevator, a sharp scowl ingrained into his face. With his legs growing weak, the child realized that there would be no way he could even begin to fight off the man who stood in his way, especially as multiple of the white-clad workers began to walk out from the darkness as well. A sharp frown of both despair and annoyance formed on the child’s face, as he reached his hand into his back pocket, groping for a Pokeball.

Before the child could act, though, the creature that ran by his side leapt forward, letting out a cry that resembled a scream of death, landing on top of the multiple of the bodies that blocked the way, obviously disabling them from any form of further combat at that point. It let out another screech, eyes flashing devilishly from the lights of the elevator. 

Without a moment of hesitation, it charged at the man who had been the first to step out of the shadows. Catching him off guard, the creature’s prisoned head crashed directly into his torso and sent him flying out of the way. The child, on the other hand, had no time to watch and could only hope that the creature would act on its own and protect them both at the moment. He gave a shaky jump over the unconscious bodies that the creature had knocked over, and stumbled onto the elevator, legs shaking to the point where he could no longer even feel them. Only having enough strength to reach the elevator’s control panel, the child slowly collapsed to the ground as he pressed several buttons on the panel. His breaths came out harsh and quick, his whole body feeling like a dead weight.

With a glance up, the creature saw the child collapsing, and quickly ran to his side. The creature saw how pale the child was, fatigue written in his eyes. Sweat poured down his forehead, his long, messy blonde hair falling awkwardly down to his shoulders and over his face. The creature rubbed its head against the child, earning a faint grin from him. “We’re almost out of this place, Silvally..” he muttered again, obvious shortness of breath causing a strain in his voice. The pounding in his ears had only grown as the elevator progressively made its way upwards, though the panic was more-or-less over at the moment. The man that had attempted to stop him had most likely alerted the entire foundation of the runaway beast and the child, yet there was no way that many workers had arrived at the docks yet… hopefully.

As the elevator neared the floor with the docks, the child weakly stood up, having yet to regain most of his breath. But it was almost over… just a bit more, and then they were out. They would be able to get away from that place. That was true.

When the empty dock hall came into view, the elevator stopped with a nearly silent cry. The only audible thing in the whole room was the quiet lapping of water against the walls and the sharp inhaling and exhaling from the child. It was an odd shift from the labyrinth of labs below, where the blaring alarm was almost deafening. The room had been very open in comparison to the laboratory rooms. Boxes littered pathways that lined a wide, open body of water that openly flowed into the labs. A small boat sat near the docks, and as far as the child was concerned, that was his escape out of that Hell.

The beast that had once been loyally following behind the child had a sudden shiver flow through its body, its eyes glowing harshly once again. It was unfamiliar with this new area. Was it hostile? It let out a low, cautious growl, sending a rapidly glancing around the foreign surroundings. It twitched upon feeling a sudden patting on its side. Glancing back, the creature saw the child on his feet, gently petting its side. “It’s alright..” he murmured quietly.

Seeing the beast calm down slightly from the affirmation of him, the child stepped forward, off the platform, allowing his hand to drag along the creature’s side until he could no longer touch it. He started off by slowly walking, then broke into a quicker pace; it was something resembling a dash. He ran towards a boat that sat calmly on the open water. The beast followed the child, yet it no longer held the hurried pace it had in the labs below. 

Upon reaching the boat, the child felt both a rush of relief, yet claws of worry groped at his stomach. The claws dug deeper when screaming echoed through the empty dock rooms, the screaming of the alarm. Startled, the child twitched, letting out a hiss. Okay, it was fine the alarms were going off. Him and silvally were almost out. Almost.

The creature, sent back into its state of alarm, growled. It acted hesitant to walk onto the boat behind the child, but its senses told it that that was a better option than to remain on the solid ground of the docks. It clambered onto it, sending the boat into an odd balance shift before it evened out. 

The child dashed up to the front of the boat where the boat captain sat. While it may have been odd for any onlooker to think that there should be anyone in a boat- especially during an event such as this- for the person that sat behind the wheel it was only justified to be there.

The driver sent one glance towards the kid, gave a subtle nod and a half grin, before starting up the boat. The driver had murmured something in another language under his breath, perhaps it was something in French, before turning the key on the boat. In an instant, it began to move forward, accelerating slowly but surely. The child stood solemnly by the captain, whose grey hair fell awkwardly downwards from under his hat, nearly in such a way to obscure his vision, yet his eyes remained focused out on the sapphire blue liquid ahead of them. 

 

_ “Awful child." _


	2. Strangers

Water bubbles floated through a street of Hau’oli city, drifting above buildings and into the clear skies of the shining day. They glowed with all sorts of colours- blue, pink, purple, and even green, casting small shadows downwards onto the pavement below. People watched in awe from all over the streets, staring at the bubbles as they glided through the air. Some people attempted to poke at them, causing the bubbles to jiggle slightly as they floated around.

Some simply snacked on food and watched with curiosity, while other groups of people continued to stroll through the street, only paying slight attention to the bubbles. Pokemon watched as well, and one especially friendly popplio had prodded at a bubble with its nose from its trainer’s arms, only to wind up showering them both with water when the bubble popped. Both the trainer and the popplio giggled quietly, not minding at all. 

At the centre of it all stood, or rather, swam a singular person. People watched in awe as this person swam through a massive bubble of water that floated through the air, doing tricks and passing between other nearby bubbles. A buizel swam by the side of this person, aiding them with their tricks. A pair of kirlia sat near the bottom of the bubbles, eyes closed, focusing hard on keeping the bubbles afloat with their psychic powers.

The massive bubble split apart into a pair of drill-like bodies that floated around each other like a spiral. The performer flashed a bright grin towards their buizel that swam parallel to them. Buizel flashed a grin right back, suddenly taking off with a blast through the spiral of water. Within a moment, the enby followed buizel’s guide, swimming hard up through their spiral of water. Their shining necklace pressed against their neck, their deep blue hair flowing behind them like ribbons.

With one final kick, the performer and buizel broke through the top of the water spiral in unison, showering dazzling droplets of water all around them like diamonds raining from the sky. Each was suspended in the air for mere moments, then both the enby and buizel fell backwards into a pair of newly reshaped bubbles of water. The bubbles stood frozen in the air for less than a second, before both converted back into something resembling a drill, rocketing towards each other.

The water drills flew right by each other, allowing just enough room for buizel and the performer to narrowly miss each other. They then quickly shot upwards, in such a way that cast both Ara and buizel directly out of them and into the open air.

The two rocketed through the air and towards the ground at an amazing speed, particles of water glimmering all around them through their descent. With a silent shift in the air (thanks to some assistance from the kirlia), the performer and buizel landed spectacularly on their feet in the centre of it all; bubbles, people, pokemon- everything. Their faces shined with the glow of joy, looking out over the crowds that had stopped to watch.

Everything stood silent, as if waiting for a reaction to happen… and it did. The thunderous sounds of clapping erupted from the crowd- it was clapping of both people and Pokemon. Grins covered faces, eyes shown with stars of awe. The performer and buizel dipped in a low bow, both silently chuckling to themselves. It wasn’t anything sinister, rather, it was laughter caused by joy.

From the edge of the crowds stood a single trainer, blonde hair covering the right side of his face, and something that resembled a scowl was his painted expression. It was really just a resting bitch face, but that’s besides the point. With his clothing bearing several rips and being mainly coloured black or red, he stuck out from the crowd quite well. It further didn’t help that he was incredibly recognisable as the head of the Aether Foundation’s son. Of course, the massive, seven-and-a-half-foot tall dog-like creature standing right next to him further made him stick out. Let’s just say there was no way he at least didn’t earn himself a few glances, and especially didn’t avoid the look of the performer.

Gladion, said trainer, had been walking through Hau’oli City in order to get to Iki Town to visit someone who he had slowly come to recognise as his friend. While he could have easily avoided walking through the occupied street in Hau’oli, he felt the urge to check for trouble. Massive attractions seemed to be a popular strategy for stirring up some form of drama lately, especially with the three annoyances from Team Rocket around. Also silvally, his partner and dog, seemed really curious about all the bubbles. He had taken off before Gladion could do anything about it to see what was happening, and didn’t listen when Gladion attempted to call him back. Gladion had no choice but to follow. So there they were, at the edge of the crowd, watching a water performance.

Silvally prodded one of the bubbles with his head, causing it to jiggle slightly before it floated away. Within moments, a loud snap echoed from the centre of the crowd, and all the bubbles shattered beautifully. Silvally’s head flinched backwards slightly, surprised by the bubble shattering.

Gladion, who had little care for the water show, didn’t think much of the bubbles popping. Rather, the person in the centre of it all is what drew his attention at that point. Were they there to stir up any trouble? Were they apart of a new evil organization? Who were they?

Gladion’s attention suddenly snapped to a patch that was sewn neatly onto the person’s swimsuit. It was some sort of symbol, it resembled something of a wave… were they apart of some organization?!

In that moment, Gladion could faintly hear the voice of his sister, Lillie, in the back of his head telling him not to worry so much. Okay, so maybe the symbol wasn’t actually anything. Yet on the off chance…

Without realizing it, the person and Gladion’s eyes had met for a mere second. The person lifted their hand in a half wave to him, grinning awkwardly. A few folks in the crowd glances back to Gladion in that moment, a few of them almost immediately looking away. Whether they were startled by Gladion’s emo appearance or Silvally though, it wasn’t all that tellable.

On the other side of the crowd, a small girl, maybe around the age of 12, pushed her way through it to attempt to get to the centre. She wore a determined look on her face, eyes poised on the performer. She wore simple clothing, large blue pants and a white crop top with a dark swimsuit underneath. A popplio followed behind her, wearing a look that closely resembled that of the trainer’s. Two little girls that closely resembled the trainer watched her from the front of the crowd.

The performer looked like they were just about to say something before the trainer that emerged from the crowd snapped up their hand in her own, head facing downwards. Within that exact moment, the entire crowd seemed to have stood still, air filling with static. 

The static shattered with the next movement; the trainer’s head snapped up, an intense look blazing in her eyes. 

“Please, teach me how you did that!” she exclaimed, her voice cracking unevenly half way through her phrase.

“H-huh?” The enby seemed to be taken aback by the girl’s plead, a startled look clearly framed on their face. “Teach you?”

The trainer nodded, her blue hair puffing out unevenly. She was biting her lower lip, nervously looking into the performer’s eyes. “Please!”

“I-I don’t really know if I can do that kid,” they responded slowly, casting a glance from the trainer to the popplio, which held the same look as its trainer. They awkwardly looked to the side, “I’m not much of a teacher.”

That answer was more than obviously unsatisfactory to the trainer that clutched the enby’s hand. Her determined look didn’t die out, though, as it continued to shine in her eyes behind her nervous expression. 

“Ah… um..” The performer’s startled look slowly faded to looking more awkward than anything. Looking into the trainer that held their hand’s eyes, that glow, that will… they melted into it. There was no way they could resist or deny that sort of look; it would have been an impossible feat to do so. “A-alright,” they choked out. “I guess.. I can teach you.”

The trainer’s expression, upon hearing the first words of the performer’s sentence, lit up like a chandelier. 

“Thank you, than-” Her sentence was cut off early with the sudden, stiff aura that surrounded the performer as their head turned upwards, looking out towards the ocean. Their hand went limp, gently moving up to their ear where a small earpiece was hardly visible. Their fingers hovered over it, as their pupils shifted into pinpricks, awkwardly scanning over the water. 

The crowd stood still in silence once again, watching the enby. Some were confused, some were concerned, others were thinking that this sudden shift of events was quite odd. Slowly, but carefully, the performer’s hand lowered down. They cast a glance towards the trainer, quietly murmuring and apology to her, saying that they’d need to meet up later. 

They quickly dashed over and grabbed their backpack off the ground, the pair of kirlia hoping down just before. Buizel watched cautiously, following behind the performer. They slung the backpack over their shoulder, quickly calling out, “I need to go!”

The performer quickly broke through the crowd of people that had once surrounded them, dashing off at an amazing speed. Buizel ran at their side, its pupils the same pinpricks of its owners. Where they were going? Most of Alola had yet to receive the news at that point, yet just off the coast of the eastern side of the Melemele Island there was a ship that had just been reported attacked by a group of jellicent. The performer was told the situation wasn’t that serious, yet it could quickly elevate from the current moment. 

Why was the performer, of all people, going to stop the jellicent? Well, the answer is simple; they, Ara Blanche, are the head of a special water division of Pokemon rangers from a far-off region, and they were currently in Alola due to an odd rise in attacks from the ocean waters.


End file.
